Numbers 20:23-28

20:23 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom. He said: 20:24 “Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, ¹  for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you ²  rebelled against my word ³  at the waters of Meribah. 20:25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up on Mount Hor. 20:26 Remove Aaron’s priestly garments ⁴  and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors ⁵  and will die there.”

20:27 So Moses did as the Lord commanded; and they went up Mount Hor in the sight ⁶  of the whole community. 20:28 And Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

¹ sn This is the standard poetic expression for death. The bones would be buried, often with the bones of relatives in the same tomb, giving rise to the expression.

² tn The verb is in the second person plural form, and so it is Moses and Aaron who rebelled, and so now because of that Aaron first and then Moses would die without going into the land.

³ tn Heb “mouth.”

⁴ tn The word “priestly” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “will be gathered”; this is a truncated form of the usual expression “gathered to his ancestors,” found in v. 24. The phrase “to his ancestors” is supplied in the translation here.

⁶ tn Heb “eyes.”